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Dept. of Interior defies Congressional ban on uranium mining in Grand Canyon
The Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust and Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter on Monday filed suit against Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne for authorizing uranium exploration near Grand Canyon National Park in defiance of a congressional resolution prohibiting such activities across 1 million acres of public lands in watersheds surrounding the Park.
On June 25th the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Natural Resources voted 20-2 in favor of a resolution that requires the Secretary to withdraw public lands surrounding Grand Canyon from new uranium claims and exploration. The Secretary, acting through the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management, has defied the resolution and continued to initiate and authorize new uranium exploration within the withdrawal area north of Grand Canyon. The suit claims that in so doing, the Secretary violated the Federal Land Management and Policy Act, National Environmental Policy Act and other laws.
The Secretary has defied laws and Congress to continue uranium development that threatens the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, said Taylor McKinnon, public lands program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. Short of putting the Secretary before a judge, nothing not laws, not Congress, and not the Grand Canyon itself will impede the Bush administration's accommodation of industry on our public lands.
Recent spikes in the price of uranium have caused thousands new uranium claims, dozens of exploratory drilling projects, and movement to open several uranium mines on public lands immediately north and south of Grand Canyon. Concerns about surface- and ground-water contamination of Grand Canyon National Park and the Colorado River have been expressed by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano; the Los Angeles Water District; the Southern Nevada Water Authority; the Arizona Game and Fish Department; the Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai, Hualapai and Kaibab Paiute nations; and Coconino County.
Congressmen Nick Rahall, Ral Grijalva, and other members of the Committee on Natural Resources recognized the immediate threat that uranium mining posed to Colorado River watersheds and took the lead in demanding bold, emergency action, said Roger Clark with the Grand Canyon Trust. "It's unacceptable to allow this Administration to abuse their power by ignoring the resolution and putting the Grand Canyon, our nation's most beloved national park, at risk."
Emergency withdrawals have been enacted four times prior to this, most recently in 1981 and 1983 by the late Arizona Congressman Mo Udall and the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee to halt public lands mineral- and energy-leasing programs pursued by Interior Secretary James Watt.
Grand Canyon is a national treasure and something we should protect not just for today, but for future generations, said Sandy Bahr, chapter director for the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter. It is irresponsible for this administration to sacrifice this area, threaten the Park, and risk the water supply for millions of people, all for a few narrow special interests.
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Why can't we stop these people from violating the law!? The Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust and Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter on Monday filed suit against Secretary of... more -
Goodbye Grand Canyon if uranium mining gets go ahead?
More insanity of humanity: " Mining companies stake claims on federal land adjoining the park, while opponents say drinking water will be at risk.
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona - On a ragged outcrop just a short walk from a Grand Canyon overlook where millions of visitors annually come to gawk at one of the world's most stunning vistas sits the old Orphan uranium mine. Soil radiation levels around it are 450 times higher than normal. It's encircled by a protective fence.
A sign warns: "Remain behind fence - environmental evaluation in progress." In the canyon hundreds of feet below, another sign by gurgling Horn Creek instructs thirsty hikers not to drink its radioactive water. "
More Truthout.org link above. More insanity of humanity: " Mining companies stake claims on federal land adjoining the park, while opponents say drinking w... more -
Grand Canyon Flooding Forces Evacuations, Searches (Update2)
Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Rescuers in northern Arizona are searching for campers missing in an area of Grand Canyon National Park that was overwhelmed by floodwaters over the weekend.
Authorities resumed searches and evacuations this morning after suspending them last night because of darkness and dangerous terrain, Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, said in a telephone interview. Fewer than 20 people, all of them tourists, are missing, Blair said.
The Redlands Earthen Dam broke after storms on Aug. 16, sending floodwaters down Cataract Canyon into Havasu Canyon, an area about 75 miles (121 kilometers) west of Grand Canyon Village on the park's South Rim, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
The flooding forced the evacuation of about 170 people by helicopter, including some of about 200 visitors at a campground and residents of Supai Village, a community of about 400 Havasupai Indians in the canyon. The area, in the Havasupai Indian Reservation, is a popular destination for campers and hikers because of its waterfalls.
Another 80 campers and about 40 villagers who asked to be evacuated are expected to be airlifted from the canyon today, said park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge.
`Extreme Conditions'
``We had some pretty extreme conditions down there yesterday and the day before, so certainly we want to find them and make sure they're OK,'' Blair said. ``Things have calmed down there a bit. We're not receiving any reports of rainfall today, so that's a good thing and that should help our evacuation efforts.''
There are about 650 enrolled members of the Havasupai Tribe, about 450 of whom live in Supai, according to the tribe's Web site. Its name means ``people of the blue-green waters,'' according to Grand Canyon National Park.
Visitors to Havasupai Canyon must register with the tribe at the entrance and pay a fee before the 9-mile trip into the canyon, Blair said. Most of those who were registered when the floodwaters came were evacuated to an American Red Cross shelter in Peach Springs, although rescuers will search today for less than 20 tourists who were unaccounted for, he said. No injuries were reported. Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Rescuers in northern Arizona are searching for campers missing in an area of Grand Canyon National Park that wa... more -
Hundreds evacuated from Grand Canyon as dam breaks
An earthen dam weakened by heavy rains broke near the Grand Canyon early Sunday, flooding a tribal town and forcing officials to pluck hundreds of residents and campers from the gorge by helicopter. No injuries were immediately reported. An earthen dam weakened by heavy rains broke near the Grand Canyon early Sunday, flooding a tribal town and forcing officials to pluck... more
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The Most Magnificent Wonders of the Natural World
Mother Nature's creations inspire awe and humility in all who witness her greatest wonders.
Mother Nature is a powerful and awesome force. Here are some examples of her most spectacular creations. Mother Nature's creations inspire awe and humility in all who witness her greatest wonders. ... more -
un viaggio dallo spazio alle metropoli fino al Grand Canyon
Luka Zotti: Musicista, pittore e Creative Arredo-Designer si dedica a performances-sonorizzazioni di mostre d'arte, istallazioni, video-proiezioni, film muti e alla composizione di musiche sperimentali per colonne sonore di film, documentari, cortometraggi..
Questo video è parte della performance “Music & Visual” in cui vengono musicate dal vivo proiezioni di video-documentari (contenuti nell'album "Colori eMotivi) contenenti anche fotografie e dipinti.
La musica è una fusione tra folk, rock e psichedelia, i video sono giocati sui contrasti e sulle armonie, sulla contrapposizione tra natura e tecnologia, modificando i colori della realtà per ricrearne una più sognante
Obiettivi: Sensibilizzare il rapporto tra musica, immagini, forme e colori; stabilire una interazione tra le differenti forme d’arte. Luka Zotti: Musicista, pittore e Creative Arredo-Designer si dedica a performances-sonorizzazioni di mostre d'arte, istallazioni,... more -
U.S. Halts Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon
Uranium mining near the rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona was halted for three years by a 20-2 vote Wednesday in a US House of Representatives committee.
A recent surge in mining claims within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park sparked the action. The number of claims close to the park increased to more than 1,100 by January 2008 from only 10 in January 2003, according to government figures.
Almost all those claims are to mine uranium. Uranium prices have increased in recent years as demand has spiked to feed an increasing number of nuclear power plants across the globe, as well as potential new US plants.
"This emergency action will help prevent uranium mining from harming the Grand Canyon and polluting drinking water for millions," said Dusty Horwitt, public lands analyst at Environmental Working Group, which spearheaded the effort to block mining.
Horwitt said mining could pollute the Colorado River, source of drinking water for millions throughout the Southwest, including the Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas areas.
The world consumes about 180 million pounds (50 million to 55 million pounds in the United States) of raw uranium a year. (Reporting by Bernard Woodall; Editing by Braden Reddall)
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Good news... for now. Let's just hope the EPA doesn't allow a coal plant to be built there now. Uranium mining near the rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona was halted for three years by a 20-2 vote Wednesday in a US House of Repres... more -
Grand Canyon Skywalkers
Skywalking Indians explores the impoverished Hualapai Tribe's search for economic independence in the heritage tourism industry by sinking millions into the Skywalk: a gigantic glass walking bridge jutting out into the Grand Canyon--a kitschy tourist trap with peculiarly
indigenous overtones. Featuring tribal business leaders who advocated for the Skywalk, tribal elders who opposed it--and hosted by two
sincere and satirical anthropologists-- this pod explores the
issue most pertinent to Native American independence: when should
tradition be compromised to make a buck? Skywalking Indians explores the impoverished Hualapai Tribe's search for economic independence in the heritage tourism industry b... more -
Grand Canyon could be as old as dinosaurs
Dinosaurs roaming the American Southwest 65 million years ago may have teetered on the edges of an ancient version of the awe-inspiring cliffs and gorges we see today in the Grand Canyon, a new study suggests.
The mile-deep canyon in Arizona was formed as the Colorado River scoured through ancient rock layers millions of years ago.
The most widely-posed theory of the canyon's formation is that the Colorado River connected drainages on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains with the then newly-formed Gulf of California, incising the plateau surface to create a canyon when the plateau was uplifted. A study just last month dated the initial carving of part of the Grand Canyon at 16 to 17 million years ago, farther back in time than had been thought.
Now scientists suggest pushing the date much farther back. Dinosaurs roaming the American Southwest 65 million years ago may have teetered on the edges of an ancient version of the awe-inspirin... more -
Lawsuit Seeks To Block Uranium Mining At Grand Canyon
Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the approval of up to 39 new uranium drilling sites within a few miles of Grand Canyon National Park. In December, the Kaibab National Forest granted British firm Vane Minerals approval to conduct exploratory uranium drilling on national forest lands along the park's southern boundary with no public hearing and no environmental review. It is the first of five such projects slated for the area. 'Grand Canyon simply isn't the place for uranium development,' said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiff groups. 'Our national treasures deserve better than the calamity of an adjacent industrial zone.' Filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and Grand Canyon Trust, the lawsuit claims that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act and two other laws when it approved the uranium exploration using a 'categorical exclusion,' the least rigorous analysis available to the agency."
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Tell me again how any presidential candidate is going to stand up to the nuclear lobby or this blatant disregard for the public trust and our national landmarks. Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the approval of up to 39 new uranium drilling sites within a few miles... more -
3173
Rough the wilderness and ride 3173 miles of Americas Midwest on VC2 Producer Rob Walters motorcycle.
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